Police charged a man in Germany who had child pornography on his computer after he turned himself in. The man had just received an e-mail apparently from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) which said he was “under investigation.”

The e-mail was fake.

“It just goes to show that computer worms aren’t always destructive,” said a spokesman for police in the western city of Paderborn. “Here it helped us to uncover a crime which would otherwise probably have gone undetected.”

The 20-year-old was caught out by a version of the “Sober” worm, a prolific Internet virus which can invade computers and then send out messages from a host of fabricated addresses. — Reuters

This particular e-mail worm presents a customized message for several different countries, including the U.S. The FBI issued a warning regarding the e-mail, for instance. Ironically, so did the BKA. “These E-mails are not from the BKA,” the notice reads. It directs visitors to more information from the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

The man, who was unnamed in news reports due to legal considerations, has become today’s Stupid Person of the Day. (Thanks)